Sunday, 23 May 2010

Over the years I have tried every diet going. I’ve done Atkins, I’ve done South Beach, I’ve done Weight Watchers, I’ve done the Cabbage Soup diet. Low-carb, low-fat, high-protein, good carb, good fat, meal replacements, I’ve read all the books and tried all the tricks.

And the sad thing is – they all work. If you stick to them.

One summer, tipping the scales at almost 200lbs I went on Atkins and lost 35lbs.

Last New Years, tipping the scales at 220lbs I tried Weight Watchers and lost 30lbs.

But see, in between those two successful diets, although I dieted on and off again, I clearly gained back the weight and then some.

This morning, I stepped on the scale and am once again close to 200lbs.

200lbs!! The exact same weight I was that summer of 2002 before I went on Atkins!

8 years have passed and I’m still the same exact weight.

8 years!!

I have wasted 8 years of my life counting carbs, or calories, or points and it’s done absolutely nothing for me.

8 years!!

This morning I wasted £12.99 on the Dukan Diet book. It’s crap. I was sucked into the hype and wasted all that money on a book that says you can burn almost 500 calories a day by sucking on ice cubes, taking a cold shower and packing away your thermal underwear. Seriously, why have I wasted my time running miles if I could burn off the same number of calories by sucking on 10 ice cubes/mile?

So it’s time for a plan of action.

The Project 55 Plan is my own creation taken from everything that I’ve learned in the past 8 years of fruitless dieting.

The Weigh In

I will weigh myself tomorrow, Monday May 24th, and will return to my daily weigh-ins. I find that they keep me on track much better than weekly run-ins with the scale.

The Hydration

I will get back to drinking my 10 glasses of water a day. Plus coffee in the mornings, tea in the evenings if I so desire.

The Food

I hate that most diets rule out certain foods. I like my avocados and my bananas and I’m not ready to give them up or feel like I’m cheating because I’m eating a goddamn piece of fruit! The low-carb mentality is the one that has given me the most mental issues with food and I’m tired of it.

While I plan on cutting out white pasta, rice and bread, I’m not ruling anything in particular out. I want to cut back on sugar, but that may still mean I’m eating a couple squares of dark chocolate of an evening.

I’m going to stick to non-fat or low-fat dairy for milk and cheese and eat lean protein in the form of eggs, poultry and meat.

I will be trying though, as Michael Pollan suggests, to eat mostly plants.

The Exercise

Oh, the dreaded exercise. I’m running a half-marathon in 5 months and I haven’t worked out in weeks. I am going to start scheduling in some time to work out, start running home from work a couple days a week and get back into the exercise groove.

The Timeline

The Project 55 plan is a plan for life, but for my own piece of mind, I’m going to track carefully for the next 5 weeks. I can do anything for 5 weeks.

I’m tired of being this weight. It affects every aspect of my life from social to professional, it’s mental and emotional – it’s so much more than just physical.

Thursday, 29 April 2010

I have been following the cabbage soup diet since Saturday. Tomorrow is the final day. In my head, I know it is a ridiculous, stupid diet to follow.

Saturday I made up massive batches of the cabbage soup and ate it alongside fruit.

Sunday I ate soup and vegetables.

Monday I ate soup, fruit and vegetables.

Tuesday I ate soup, a banana and a massive amount of banana milkshakes,

Wednesday I ate steak and soup and tomatoes.

Today I ate chicken and vegetables.

I have failed numerous times because I ate an extra mini baked potato on Monday, I didn’t eat my soup today and I’ve eaten chocolate both today and yesterday. Regardless, I have seen the scales drop.

Since I was too hungover to weigh in last post, my weight shot back up to 197. I knew it wasn’t legitimate to gain 5 or 6 pounds from my day of hungover eating but it also made me feel like complete crap. For an entire week I failed to post and my weight stayed around the 195 mark. 195 has been my weight pretty much all friggin year. I am so sick of weighing in the 190s.

The rationale part of my brain told me to just get back on weightwatchers and maybe actually work out but the headcase part of my brain decided the Cabbage Soup diet would be more effective.

Today I weighed in at 190, my lowest weight of 2010. If I am 189 tomorrow I will be a very, very happy girl despite my crazy binge episode this afternoon. I will write more about my binge episode another time since it really blew me away with the physical and mental cravings that sparked it.

But even though I haven’t posted in 10 days, I am around and still losing weight, just not in a calm, rational manner. Clearly I need to get my head in order just as much as my body.

About Me

I started this journey January 1st, 2009 at 220lbs.
After following the Couch-to-5k programme I officially caught the running bug and ran my very first half-marathon in September.
I lost 25lbs in 2009 and now my goal for 2010 is to finish Project 55 and get down to my goal weight of 165. Only 30lbs to go!
I'm also running another half-marathon in October and hoping to beat last year's time of 2:37